Hand Me Down
by Dimitri Aidan
Summary: Lance and Kurt find themselves involved with a tempremental feral. While anti-mutant feelings grow they begin to fall deep into a world of conspiracy and danger. (SLASH, threesome)
1. One: Dysfunction

Hand Me Down

Don't own X-men Evolution, but if I did…well. It'd be a whole different ballgame

Author: Dimitri Aidan

Rating: All in all, this is not a story for little kids or people who may be easily offended, since I've been known to push the Pg-13 boundaries.

Warnings: Lots of Slash, a few male OCs but only one of them is real, OOC-ness, a Goth!Neko Boy with a major attitude problem, general insanity. Deep breath Drug abuse, child abuse, underage activates, rape, language, mentions of suicide and self mutilation, valley girl bashing, and the occasional insult to/of Bobby's intelligence.

Pairings: Lance/OMC/Kurt. Other stuff drifting around in the background.

Summary: Lance and Kurt find themselves involved with a new kind of kitty, but this one is a little on the unbalanced side. Still, they can't help but be drawn to him, despite the risks and the chaos brewing around them.

0000000000000000000000

Chapter One

Dysfunction

0000000000000000000000

Dammy. It was a strange name. A very strange name for an equally strange boy, or at least Kurt assumed he was strange. Maybe where Dammy was from he wasn't strange...Kurt kind of doubted that though.

Dammy, that name was really odd, was about 5'3" with a thin, willowy frame and milky white skin. He had long burgundy hair, maybe to his waist, and his bangs hung into his golden cat-like eyes that almost glowed when he looked at you. He wore lipstick, colors ranging from electric blue to Slut!red, as Jean put it, to pure black and his sense of style seemed to be made up by black, red, tight, and feminine. He wasn't quite like anyone Kurt had ever met and Kurt had met a lot of interesting people.

The reason Kurt was so stuck on him was probably the fact he was currently hiding in the basement of a nearly rundown house with the aforementioned boy and Lance Alvers, former Brotherhood member, while some weird government guys traipsed overhead.

But maybe he was a little ahead of himself. Yes, he probably was, so backtracking a little bit: it had started years ago when he was born…

Wait no, that was a bad joke.

It had actually started the first time he saw Dammy, which hadn't been that long ago. A couple of months…a couple of very interesting months.

After they'd defeated Apocalypse, if you could really consider it that, the Brotherhood and Magneto's Acolytes had merged with the X-men. They still kept their distance but for the most part the bad blood had been overcome. The Brotherhood had, with some persuading from Professor Xavier and Magneto, been permitted back into school. A few new teachers had been hired and, in the grand scheme of things, everything had calmed down for the most part.

It had been in school, right after chemistry, and he had been on his way to Latin when Kelly, still principal albeit reluctantly, had called him from down the hall. And he was leading a person, who Kurt thought to be some girl, towards him.

No such luck.

00000000

"Mr. Wagner."

"Herr Kelly." Kurt said, squirming a little bit. The man still made him extremely nervous. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Actually Kurt, there is." Kelly said, moving to the side a little so Kurt could get a better look at his companion, who just blinked at with dull amber eyes Kurt. "This is a new student, who I was going to show around, but I have an…important meeting to attend."

Why did Kurt think he was lying through is teeth?

"But I noticed you two have identical before lunch classes, and thought you could keep an eye on Dammy for me." Principal Kelly looked nervous. "There's extra credit in it for you."

Dammy blew a bubble and Kelly jumped then laughed forcibly. Dammy quirked an eyebrow at Kurt, then licked pale purple lips with a blue tongue and brushed a lock of hair back. Dammy was kind of pretty if the tight black thing was your style. Kurt looked at Kelly who was sweating a little bit.

"Umm…okay." Kurt said slowly, looking back at Dammy who looked disinterested in with the whole affair. What had Kelly so nervous?

"Wonderful. Kurt Wagner, this is Damien Feles. Damien this is Kurt."

Wait, Damien, as in a boy?

"No kidding." Damien said, rolling his eyes. And Kurt said he, because despite his earlier assumption, this was indeed a boy. The voice kind of gave it away.

Kurt shuddered mentally. Eww…

"Umm, right, well, give him to Lance after lunch please." Principal Kelly stopped his hasty retreat as if a thought had just occurred to him. "You do know Lance right? I've seen you hanging around him-"

"Ja, I know Lance." Kurt interrupted, half expecting to be yelled at. Kelly just nodded then dashed off.

"He tisn't nervous." Damien said, smiling faintly then blowing another bubble. Kurt noticed the gum was blue, which explained the tongue. Now the rest of the boy…

He was shorter then Kurt and his eyes seemed to taking in everything slowly. His lips were tinted a pale shade of purple and the coloring above his eyes was a slightly darker shade. His waist length hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail.

"I can't imagine why he would be." Kurt lied.

Damien snorted. "Thanks, but I make people nervous, it's not like I don't already know it. I'm a freak, no need to be nice about it."

"I wouldn't go that far." Kurt almost laughed. This boy knew nothing about freaks. A real freak would send him running.

"Whatever." Damien started shifting from one foot to the other. "Shouldn't we get going? We'll be late for class otherwise won't we?" Not that he cared that much. Forty-five minutes of being stared at had never been high on his list of fun things.

It was almost enough to make his change his look back to the preppy rich kid from Dublin.

Ah, no, that familiar feeling of self-disgust said being gawked at was not enough to make him preppy again. Looked like his Da was going to wait a little longer for hell to freeze over. He was going to be so disappointed.

Kurt nearly slapped himself. Of course, how could he forget he had to get to class? And Latin was on the top floor too. Damn it…normally he would port into the upstairs bathroom and, hoping Scott wasn't around, make a run for it.

But he couldn't exactly do that with an audience.

The bell rang and the last of the students ran for their classrooms. Damien just stared at Kurt, waiting for him to do something. Like lead the way to the classroom, Kurt realized. Yes he was a wonderful tour guide.

"Let's hope he called and let the teacher know we'd be late then." Kurt said.

"Ay."

Damien followed behind him, not seeming to notice his rushed pace. He was a little busy looking around at the posters, banners, cases, and assorted things in the hallways. Kurt slowed down and watched him for a second then grinned.

"Different from your old school?"

"Think big cold drafty castle, lit by torches and candles in the winter, no females within a hundred mile radius except the cook, and a set of dorms a mile away, but you have to walk through grass that always seemed wet and thick mud. That's me school."

"That sounds…no girls?" Kurt asked, looking horrified.

"The headmaster's daughter." Damien gave in.

"Not pretty?"

"Uh, sister." Damien shuddered. "I spent a good check of me life beating up every guy who looked her way." Which made it impossible to get any…but he digressed.

"Oh." Kurt frowned. "That does not sound pleasant."

"The wonders of private school." Damien quipped. "So Latin?"

"Ja." Kurt said defensively. Why did everyone say that when he said he was taking Latin?

"It's kind of dead isn't it?"

"Then why are you taking it?" Kurt asked.

"Dead things interest me."

00000000000000000

Lance scowled at the principal's retreating back and resisted the urge to have him fall on his ass care of a little tremor or two. But the last thing he needed was the X-Brats on his case. Like baby-sitting some new kid wasn't bad enough. Now that all the groups were playing nice he wasn't allowed to step out of line and make trouble or else he risked the 'wrath of Magneto'.

Which, to be honest, was something he wasn't eager to be on the receiving end of thank you very much. He didn't care how nice the man was pretending to be now, Lance was pretty damn sure he was crazy.

"Hey, Lance." Kitty bounced over and Lance perked up immediately. He might as well have a little bit of fun before he had to grab this kid from the elf.

"Kitty." He replied, winking at her. She blushed then smiled.

"So, what did Kelly want?" Kitty asked, while Lance marveled at her ability to not say like for a change.

"I'm babysitting some new kid." Lance said dismissively.

"That is like, so sweet." Kitty said happily.

Lance smirked. He could use this to his advantage. Kitty liked it when he did 'selfless' things and any chance to get on her good side was one he had to take.

"Yeah, he was telling his secretary how he had a meeting and wasn't going to be able to show some kid around, so you know, I volunteered, being to selfless guy that I am." Lance said proudly.

"Please." Kurt was walking towards them. The elf looked less then happy to see Lance and Kitty together. There was some short kid next to him. "You volunteered about as much as I did."

Lance glared. "Just because you aren't nice enough to offer and had to be forced into it doesn't mean I did. Honestly Kitty, some people just don't know how to do a good deed."

Kitty frowned at him. "That's not very nice Kurt. It's not like showing a kid around is going to interfere with anything."

"I wasn't-"

"Does anybody care that I don't being liked called 'kid'? You know, since my parents did actually give me a name and I don't think they did it just for fun or anything." All three teens looked at the smaller boy like he had grown another head. "Fine, forget I'm even here."

000000

Apparently he was already forgotten. They went back to whatever love triangle they were involved in. Damien had never been one to intrude on personal matters, and he had a splitting headache, so he just shrugged and left.

The bathroom had been this way…he was pretty sure it had been anyway. Yeah, it was. He slipped in then looked around to make sure he was alone. And he was. How convenient.

He pulled out the rubber band and scratched his head, coming in contact with two furry nubs. He glanced up and waited, then sighed when two furry ears popped into view. They twitched a little bit, listening out for any sounds. They were better then human ears that way and that was about the only advantage to…whatever it was he was.

He sighed and rubbed at his temples. God he had a headache and he really just wanted to get the hell out of here. He should have known better really, he just…couldn't handle all of these people at once. He'd thought maybe he could pretend like he could do this but…he couldn't.

"So, Damien, what's up?"

Damien jumped then glanced over his shoulder out of habit. He rolled his eyes when four different voices laughed at him, mocking tones seeming to bounce off of the tile. There was no one behind him.

"I never get tired of watching you do that." A voice drawled, low and dark.

Another voice commented, much like his own. "Like you think we're going to be there."

The next held a slight accent, like the one Damien usually kept carefully repressed. "Haven't we done this before?"

"All the time." A final voice spoke, serious and tinged by something almost like sadness.

"Go away." Damien muttered, rubbing at his head again. He could feel a headache building up behind his eyes and it was…irksome to say the least of the matter. He couldn't take this right now. Even now, in this bathroom, he felt trapped and uncomfortable, as if his skin didn't fit.

"No can do. We thought we'd come to check up on you." The first voice again. He wondered if he should name them, just to keep them straight in his head…

"Yeah, we were worried. We can't have you messing up our body again. Those scars still won't go away. What would your mother say."

"Piss off." Damien said, leaning against the sink. He was pretty sure he was going to be sick. He needed to get out of here.

"Aww, he's angry."

"Poor baby, we must be upsetting him. We should apologize."

There was a low mocking laughter. Damien was pretty sure the pressure in his head wasn't going to go away anytime soon. He wished he was drunk. The voices weren't so loud when he wasn't coherent enough to remember his own name.

"Someone's coming."

"So? It's not like anyone but me can hear you." He snapped annoyed. All he wanted was a moment of quiet and he couldn't even achieve that in his own head. It was…annoying.

"Ears, you idiot, the ears."

Damien blinked then caught on. A little concentration and the ears were gone, shrunken back into…well his skull he supposed. He tried not to think about it. He pulled his hair back up to make sure they were covered, and then raised an eyebrow at his reflection.

He noted there were dark smudges around his eyes and he rubbed at them almost distractedly. When was the last time he'd slept anyway?

The door swung open and two other boys walked in, chatting about something. They paused when they laid eyes on Damien, in all of his two steps from cross dressing glory. The staring again. Still, if people were focused on the way he looked they tended to miss the other various things wrong with him.

At least he assumed that was how it worked. He'd never stopped to actually ask or anything.

"Who were you talking to?" One of them asked finally. Damien's mouth twitched.

"I'd say the voices in my head, but that always gets me weird looks." He pretended to be confused. "I can't imagine why though."

"Well as long as they're in your head and not outside." The other boy said. "It's when they take on a mind of their own that you're in trouble."

"Bobby." The blond looked exasperated with his friend.

"Yes Sam?"

"Don't scare the boy." Sam looked at him. "Sorry."

Damien shrugged then slid past them and out of the bathroom. He expected to be left alone until the next bell, but found Kurt and that other guy-Lance? - were in the hall looking for him.

How nice of them. He considered running away but he didn't really feel like it. So, instead, he just stopped and allowed them to catch up.

0000000000000

"Why'd you leave like that?" Lance demanded. "Are you trying to get me in trouble?" Kelly would lose his cheap plastic wig if he knew Lance had lost the new kid and that last thing Lance needed was that man ragging on him. Again.

Kelly was just waiting for him to fuck up so he could get rid of him. That man was an anti-mutant moron and Lance seemed to be at the top of his list of people to get rid of as soon as humanly possible.

"Yes, my whole day revolves around getting you in trouble." Damien deadpanned. Kurt snickered and Damien offered him a small smile. "Look, whatever your name is, don't worry about babysitting. I'm going home. It's been…yes. Bye now."

"Wait." Lance protested. "You can't just bail."

"Yeah, actually I can." Damien disagreed. "I'm sixteen, I have a car, and I can pretty much go wherever the hell I please. Wild, right?"

"What Lance means is, if Kelly sees him without you, the two of us are in trouble." Kurt explained, ignoring Lance's dirty look.

"I think he knew what I meant, fuzzy."

"Well, maybe my way was nicer." Kurt said, glaring at him. "And don't call me fuzzy." He made a small gesture in Damien's direction, hoping Lance would catch on and care enough to keep his mouth shut for a change. Hopefully Lance wasn't as big an idiot as he seemed.

"Well, Blue boy, who said being nice was going to get us anywhere?" Lance growled.

Damien whistled. 'Repressed much boys? I can almost smell the tension here.' "You two can come if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Lance and Kurt seemed surprised that he had spoken.

"Nein." Kurt shook his head. "We'll get in trouble."

"Then stay." Damien said, turning around. "See you tomorrow."

Lance stood open mouthed, trying to piece that together then stormed after the escaping boy. Like he had anything better to do with his time. And no one could say he left the kid alone. Kurt fidgeted for a moment then followed as well; he couldn't just leave Damien with Lance.

It was cruel.


	2. Two: Home Is Where The Pot Is

Hand Me Down

000000000000000000000

Chapter Two

Home is where the Pot is

00000000000000000000

"This was a bad idea." One of his ever present 'voices' muttered worriedly. He raised a questioning eyebrow. "What if he's home? Hawk doesn't like it when you bring people over."

Hawk being his uncle, the person he was currently living with. If you could call him a person. He was one of those steroid junkies, who spent most of his life at the gym and had all sorts of nasty looking veins sticking out when ever he got frustrated, which was quite often.

And when he was frustrated he liked to hit things… Usually the walls of whatever was breakable nearby and very rarely Damien. But he couldn't say it'd never happened.

It wasn't his fault though, he hadn't expected either boy to actually take him up on his offer. Who went off with some kid they barely knew to god knows where, because they didn't want a detention? It seemed stupid to him.

A bit late now though. Why hadn't somebody pointed that out before? He was a good twenty minutes from the school and halfway home; it might look strange if he decided to turn around.

"Fine, don't listen. Don't blame us when you get your ass kicked."

"I won't." Damien sighed, turning onto a side road and smiling at Kurt's muffled curse.

"Won't what?" Lance, who had gotten the front seat, asked.

"Won't take the really rough road." He said, even though not five seconds later they were on a rough dirt road and Kurt was looking green. Poor guy.

"Mein Gott, I thought you weren't taking the rough road!"

Damien chuckled darkly. "I'm not, which is besides the fact this hasn't even started to get rough."

"I feel sick."

"You'd think you could take a little shaking." Lance said, putting a little emphasis on the last word and smiling at Kurt none to nicely. Maybe a tiny earthquake when they got out of the car.

"Go to hell." Kurt muttered, sinking low in the seat. He wasn't in the mood for Lance.

Damien turned around a little, which worried Kurt greatly, and gave him a once over. "We'll be there soon, don't stress…or throw up, I've got to drive myself to school tomorrow."

"Watch the road please." Kurt squeaked. Damien looked confused then turned around and almost let go of the wheel.

That was a really ass tree!

Kurt went flying into the door as did Lance. Damien kind of giggled when he was back on what passed for a road, and then stopped seeing the looks he was getting.

"And people say I can't drive." Lance said, reaching for his seat belt.

"You can't." Kurt groaned.

"Don't whine." Damien scolded. "It's not like I crashed into that tree."

Kurt blanched. "What tree?"

"Uhh…no tree." Damien laughed. "Never mind."

"You almost crashed into a tree!"

"What's life without a little adventure Elf?" Lance taunted. Sure his heart was pounding against his ribcage, but he wasn't going to miss a chance to taunt the elf.

"Safe."

Damien grinned then frowned faintly. Home sweet home. He came to a screeching halt at the bottom of a gravel driveway.

"Welcome to the sticks boys."

They were in the middle of the woods, in front of a big yellow house with peeling paint and a wrap around porch with two sets of steps, one set was missing a few steps. Damien frowned a little and opened his door and dropped out.

There was a dark green Landcruiser in the driveway, which seemed out of place with its newly waxed paint and sparkling windows. At least his truck, one of those ones with a front, a back, and a bed, looked like it belonged here, with it's muddy tires, dirty blue paint and widows that hadn't been cleaned in forever.

He realized it seemed a little out of character for him. His sister Raven thought he should have something 'cute and sporty' but he'd dismissed that idea fairly quickly. He liked his truck, even if it broke down every other week.

He had gotten it third hand so he figured once a week wasn't so bad. Third hand meaning he was the third idiot to take it from the guy selling it. You'd think after hearing it had been brought back twice he would have declined.

"I guess we know where all the money went." Lance said, walking around to where Damien was.

"Yeah." He pushed a wisp of hair back. "Look, my cousin and his goons are home, so ignore the smoke that's sure to be wafting around and the drunken assholes. My room is up there." He pointed to a window at the very top of the house. "Three flights up, the only door. I'll see if they haven't eaten all of the food in the house."

Lance and Kurt glanced at each other, not sure if they wanted to be in the same room for any amount of time alone…or with anyone else around for that matter. Funny, the fact that they were about to go and hang out hadn't really registered until right now.

Damien glanced at them. "If you want to go say something. I can give you a ride."

"No, it's fine." Kurt said at the same time as Lance said. "Nah, last thing I need is Kelly on my case."

They glared at each other. Damien shrugged and walked up to the house. The other two followed, each on either side of Damien, glaring at each other. They were so wrapped up in that that they missed Dammy pausing then jumping over all of the steps onto the porch.

Lance stepped onto the bottom step then shouted as it collapsed under his weight. Kurt laughed and jumped over the bottom one only to have that fall in underneath him as well. He almost ported but decided against it. Damien laughed and shook his head.

"You should have jumped over them."

"Now you tell us." Lance grumbled. Damien shrugged.

"I thought it was fairly obvious when I jumped them." He wrinkled his nose. "This place is falling apart, and I would fix it up a little, but…I'm afraid to break my nails." He waggled the deep red tips then turned around and went inside.

Lance and Kurt managed to get to their feet and frowned. How the hell were they supposed to jump what was almost three feet off the ground?

"Isn't this your area?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. Kurt glowered at him then teleported with a bamf and the smell of brimstone. He landed on the porch and stuck out his tongue then went inside as well. Lance growled and backed up a little bit.

Kurt laughed at the sound of running and a loud thump. A few seconds later Lance walked in, nursing a scratched up arm, curtsey of the porch. He shot Kurt the umpteenth nasty look of the day. Some selfless hero he was.

They found the first set of stairs easily and, after checking to make sure they were solid, and walked up. On the first floor a half dressed girl ran past them and Kurt turned an interesting shade of maroon at the sight of…certain girl parts. She was wearing a small t-shirt…

And nothing else.

She either didn't see them or didn't care because she ran past them and into a room, slamming it behind her. Kurt tried to pretend he didn't here a groan from inside. Lance looked amused.

On the next floor a heavy, sweet smelling smoke filled the hallways and seemed to be coming from a room at the end of the hall, where they could hear loud laughing and shouting. Kurt started coughing and suddenly the sounds from the room stopped. A large man stepped out and stared at them. His eyes were bloodshot and kind of glazed over, but it was obvious he didn't like the idea of the two of them here.

"Who are you?"

Kurt edged back a little and hid behind Lance, who seemed to be at ease.

"No one."

The man blinked then nodded. "Alright." He started to turn around when another, smaller man, stumbled out and ran into him. The smaller man scowled.

"What are you doing here?"

"They ain't doing nothing." Damien said, hoping up onto the landing then glared at him. "Get bent Robin, they're my friends."

Kurt nodded eagerly; Lance just remained silent. The smaller man frowned.

"Daddy don't want you don't be bringing your little friends around."

Damien rolled his eyes. "And he told you don't bring your stoner boys around, so fuck off." He pointed to the door behind Kurt. "Up there."

The two boys left quickly with no real protest. Damien didn't blame them. Sigh, he was the poster child for the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline wasn't he?

Robin glared then wandered off, leaving the bigger man behind. Damien decided he didn't like the way the guy was looking at him and retreated back down stairs to grab the stuff he had left on the landing then went up to his room, where Kurt and Lance were standing around awkwardly.

"You are allowed to sit down." He announced, crashing onto his couch.

The whole upstairs was his and it worked out pretty good that way. He actually had his own kitchen, he just didn't feel like raiding his own junk food stash, a bathroom, a bedroom, assorted other rooms and the room where he kept his TV, laptop, and radio.

Naturally he had A) brought this stuff with him from home or B) used the money for school clothes and crap to get it.

"Nice place." Kurt said, opting to sit in a chair, looking a little fearful like he thought it was going to crash down underneath him.

"It's a roach motel." Damien snorted. "My floor is the only one not about to cave in, so I wouldn't worry about it. I spent my first week here patching crap up and filling in holes."

Kurt didn't think Damien looked like the 'patching up and filling in holes' type of person but he kept that to himself.

"Do you even know those people down there?" Lance nodded to the stairs.

"Course not." Damien looked at him like he was stupid. "I try not to go downstairs, ever, and especially not when Robin is around. I know I don't look like I have a death wish or something."

Well, he did, but he didn't think he looked like he did. Something to ponder over later.

"Gah, enough of that." Damien made a face and reached for the remote. "Why be depressed when we can watch…Midgets proclaim their love for circus performers?"

Kurt sat back in the chair and resisted the urge to trip Lance as he walked over and sat next to Damien. Maybe later on.

Two hours later Damien was trying to explain the concept of Passions to Kurt, who just looked mystified by the whole show.

"Well Charity isn't evil, exactly, she's just…vastly complex. See, Kay here wants Miguel who loves Charity and has done everything to try and catch him."

"Isn't Miguel her cousin?"

"No, Charity is her cousin." Damien said, wincing a little bit. "And eww. Now Tabby is a witch and she tries to be bad but she's too cool to be bad and she's constantly trying to stir shit up. It's more amusing than evil though-"

"Shut up." Lance groaned. "You sound like a bunch of girls."

"So, you would rather we were acting like guys?" Damien raised an eyebrow. "Wonder what that says about you."

Lance didn't look amused so Damien turned the channel quickly and settled on…

"No!" Lance shouted. "Give me that."

"No." Damien scrambled off the couch and backed away. "Come on, it won't kill you-"

"I am not watching Pokemon-"

"It's educational. It teaches about-"

"It's a kiddy show!"

"Losing gracefully." Damien smiled winningly then bolted.

Kurt looked over his shoulder in time to see Lance following Damien through a door. He shrugged and turned back to the TV. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Pokemon.

It was after the house shook a little that he remembered he was sitting around with Lance, Avalanche, a member of the Brotherhood and had been doing so for the past two hours and acting like it was an everyday type of thing.

Then again it wasn't like Lance wasn't a person, an arrogant untrustworthy y, poor excuse for a person, but a person all the same. Just another kid from school when he wasn't trying to kill Kurt. And he wasn't so bad was he?

No, when he wasn't around the rest of the Brotherhood or Kitty, he was actually a pretty okay person. Other then the whole trying to kill Damien thing. He should really see someone about those homicidal tendencies of his.

So Lance was okay. Kurt wasn't going to start hanging out with him or anything like that, they were still enemies and stuff, but he was an okay person none the less.

"Got it."

Lance strode back in, looking confident. He waved the remote to get his point across, then sat back down and started flipping through the channels, settling on MTV. He and Kurt were content to sit and listen to Default until Damien slunk back in and pouted at Lance.

"I don't think I like you much."

"I'm crushed." Lance sneered. Damien glared at him, but didn't say anything else about it.

"Hey, have you got a phone up here?" Kurt asked. He should really call someone and let them know he was okay…wow; he was in the same place as Lance and okay.

"Uh, yeah." Damien blinked and looked around the room, frowning to himself. "I think it's in my bedroom. I don't use it much." He blinked again. "I must sound pitiful. Don't even know where my own phone is. I blame it on the fumes from downstairs."

Kurt decided not to comment. "So…are you going to get the phone?"

"You have legs." Damien said, shaking his head. "Third door on the left through that door."

Kurt frowned. "I don't want to get up."

"Then don't." Lance said easily. "The Geeks won't miss you."

"They aren't geeks." Kurt frowned then shrugged. He'd call later. "We're out of popcorn."

"Because you and Lance threw it all at each other." Damien said, arching an eyebrow. "I get that you're presently fighting over the scary valley girl, but that is no reason to make a mess on my floor."

"Oh…forgot about that." Lance looked at the popcorn littering the floor. "Sorry."

"You should be." Damien nodded a little then sighed. "Is anybody else thirsty?"

"You getting something to drink?" Lance asked.

"I think so." Damien looked at the ceiling then frowned. "How long has there been smoke up here?"

"Umm…"

"Thought so." Damien looked very interested in the ceiling. "Can you high off of pot smoke?"

"Umm…"

"Oh." Damien nodded then yawned. "Oreos, I need Oreos."

"You've got Oreos?" Kurt asked hopefully.

"No, only the generic kind." Damien pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Schools letting out soon right? Maybe we should get the two of you out of here. I've got to get rid of these bums, air out the house, do my homework and fix something resembling dinner before my uncle gets home."

"Think you can drive safely this time?" Lance asked.

"Can you?" Damien retorted. The subject was dropped after that.

00000000000000000

Kurt and Lance watched as Damien left to get back home then looked towards the school to see the first trickle of kids running for the buses. Lance frowned as he saw Kurt's friends walking towards them.

"I think it's time I left." Lance said then looked at him. "For the record, Elf, you aren't so bad when you aren't around the Geeks."

"I was going to say the same thing about you and the brotherhood." Kurt said, rolling his eyes a little. "You are actually a decent guy." He felt really strange saying that

"Well don't let it get around." Lance looked uncomfortable. "Later blue boy."

Scott didn't look happy when he got over there and Lance had vanished into the crowd. "What was that about?"

"What was what?" Kurt tried to look innocent.

"You were talking to Lance." Kitty said. "And you weren't fighting."

"So?" Kurt shrugged. "He wanted the English homework, no big deal." Then a little defensively. "I'm allowed to talk to other people."

"No one said you weren't." Jean frowned, picking up a little anger. "It's just…he's Lance."

"Maybe it's an loser outreach thing."Bobby suggested.

Kitty glared. "He isn't a loser."

And that was it. The subject was dropped and there was normal arguing and teasing amongst them.

Later on Kurt would look back and wonder where things had gotten so fucked up.

0000000000000000000

Mechante: The voices in Damien's head aren't...bad things per se. They're annoying, yes, but they aren't bad. As long as they stay in his head...


	3. Three: Just Another Day in Paradise

Hand Me Down

000000000000000000000000

Chapter Three

Just Another Day in Paradise

000000000000000000000000

The phone was ringing, angry and shrill, insisting on destroying the silence that he'd been clinging to since he'd woken up an hour before. He sighed then reached over and grabbed the phone from it cradle before holding it up to his ear.

"'Lo?"

"Damien. It's your father." The voice was thick with the Irish accent Damien fought to keep suppressed and the image of a tall muscular man with red hair and blue eyes came to mind. "Damien?"

"I'm here Da." He said as lightly as he could manage, though his throat was tightening up. "What did you want."

"Hawk called me. Says ye had friends over while he was at work."

Damien bit his lip for a moment to keep from asking how Hawk could has possibly done any such thing when he'd only been home 30 or so minutes. A glance at the clock revealed that six o'clock was quickly approaching.

"I'm not allowed to have friends now?"

"Male friends?" The undertone of accusing to the man's tone mad him bristle. It was so easy to pretend there wasn't an ocean between the two of them and that this argument was just like all the others they'd had over the years.

"So what? I'm a bloke, in case ye haven't noticed."

"I'm aware; I do wonder if yer aware of it."

"I don't know what ye mean by that." Damien ground out, trying not to let how annoyed he was show. "I'm allowed to have friends. Even boy ones."

"After what ye put us through-"

"What I put ye through? I'm so sorry something found out what a freak of nature I am and ye had to go through so much while I got my arse kicked Da! I'll have to be more considerate of yer feelings next time, I cannae imagine what terrible things you must have gone through because of me."

"Stop being such a selfish brat boy, ye aren't the only one who was hurt by what happened. What about yer brother? Or yer poor mother an' sisters-"

"Don't drag them into this. Ye…ye sent me to another country so I couldn't 'shame' you further because of something I didn't even ask for and the only time yer at all inclined to call me is to yell at me! At least leave this between ye and me."

He rubbed at his eyes, silently cursing himself for letting his father once again break down his walls. It just…it made him very angry among other things. Still he couldn't let the man have the satisfaction of knowing he was winning.

"Ye make yer mother cry Damien. She just wants ye to be happy and all you do is piss and moan. I'm trying to help ye by sending you to Bayville, where you can start over, and what are you doing? Doing the same thing you did before-"

"I am not! I'm allowed to have friends and just because they happen to be guys doesn't mean that I plan to fuck them or that they'll hurt me. Not everyone is like that."

"Like Colin?"

Damien was silent for a long moment, ears twitching frantically as he tried to keep himself from giving the response he really wanted to give. "It isn't like that. I won't let anyone else do that me; never again. They aren't even really friends."

"Yer asking to be hurt. Why can't you just find a nice lass to settle down with and-"

"Because I can't! I just…it isn't…Jesus. I can't do this right now Da. They are just two guys who I barely know and let come over for all of three hours. Did ye want anything else, or is that the extent of this conversation?"

There was a moment of silence and then a breathy voice filled his ears, relaxing him before he could even register what was happening.

"Hello Kit. How are things with yer uncle?"

"Fine Mum." He muttered, flexing his fingers. Sharp claws slid out over his fingernails and glinted faintly in the light of the rising sun.

"I'm glad. I was so worried about this exchange program."

Damien's father didn't want anyone to know he'd more or less disowned his son and shipped him off over the ocean, least of all Damien's mother…mostly because of the reason he'd been shipped off. Everyone got to remain blissfully ignorant of the circumstances, against all possible odds. It was almost as laughable as his family thinking he'd spent two weeks in the hospital because of the flu and that his brother, Amos, was simply out of town, not in prison.

He was surrounded by naivety.

She rambled on for a while about his sisters and the school and the town and he simply filtered it all out, making noises when she paused for reaction. Eventually she wore herself down and had nothing left to say and a long stretch of silence went between them. Finally:

"I should go Mum. School and all."

"Okay. Be good Kitten."

He closed his eyes, mentally wincing at the old pet name. It hurt to even hear someone say it now; it stung like a kind of betrayal and made his stomach churn. Still he swallowed the dull ache and tried to force cheerfulness into his tone.

"Good bye mum."

He hung up the phone then stood up, stretching out weary joints. He eyes the phone cord for a moment longer then looked down at his hands. He sliced through the cord neatly with his claws then flopped back into his bed and curled up around his pillow, which still smelled faintly of the ocean.

He missed home.

0000000000000000000

Kurt watched, feeling strangely nervous, as the Brotherhood tumbled out of Lance's jeep and headed towards the front door of the institute. Part of the groups combining was the Brotherhood and Acolytes training under Wolverine and magneto's watchful eyes in the Danger Room. It had been rough at first but now most of the conflict was just between Scott and Lance.

Kurt was pretty sure hell would freeze over before those two managed to even pretend to get along for any definable period of time.

"What ya doin' Fuzzy?" A gloved hand touched his shoulder and he smiled at the reflection of his sister in the window. She smiled back faintly then leaned forward some to look over his shoulder. "Ah see. Brotherhood's back for another training session."

"Ja. Is Scott around?"

"Nope. He decided to actually stay in his dorm for a change which means you have to find your own ride to school today."

Bayville College was on the opposite side of town than Bayville High but Scott was always around to take him and others to school in the morning and get them most afternoons anyway. Kurt nodded then, with a smile, shrugged her hand off.

"We should probably get walking then."

"Yeah. Figures, ya never miss Captain Stick up the ass until he's gone." She smiled wryly while raking her fingers through her hair. "Or…we could ask Remy to give us a ride."

"Or," Kurt said as he headed out of his room, making sure to grab his bag. "I could drink bleach and ammonia before teleporting to the White House lawn."

It wasn't that Kurt had anything against Gambit, on a personal level, it was just that as far as he was concerned the swamp rat wasn't good enough for Rogue. One might be motivated to point out that he didn't think anyone was good enough for her, but that wasn't really the point.

"He isn't so bad Kurt." Rogue's voice was thick with annoyance. He shrugged while turning on his holographic watch. "If you would just get to know him."

"It's not that I don't like him. I just…don't trust him, with you. He seems so shady and mysterious, you know? I think he's going to cause you a lot of grief."

She sighed then nudged him lightly. "Maybe. But I won't know until I at least give him the time of day, now will I? I mean things with Amanda didn't end well but you don't wish it'd never happened, do you?"

He glanced sideways at her, frowning. "Only when people talk about it." Rouge had the grace to look embarrassed, but not exactly repentant.

To say that his breakup with Amanda was a sore spot would have been putting it mildly. He'd really liked her and, more than that, he'd trusted her not to leave him because of his appearance. But, as mutant visibility grew Amanda's parents had come to the conclusion that dating someone who couldn't even begin to pass for normal wasn't acceptable.

Kurt could understand that and didn't hold it against her. The part that made it such a sore issue was that she couldn't even send an email from wherever she was now. Her parents had moved over the summer, effectively putting as much distance between the two of them as they could, and now he had no idea where she was.

Amanda, however, wasn't so inhabited. She just…didn't want anything to do with him anymore, or at least that was how it seemed. He wanted to think that it was her parents keeping her from calling or writing but he knew enough to know that unless she went to a school without computers her parents word could only go so far.

Kurt and Rouge turned into the kitchen, finding the usual chaos had broken loose. Jamie, and three of his duplicates, was taking up one side of the table, much to the annoyance of Sam, Roberto, and Bobby. Rahne, Kitty, Jubilee, and Amara were on the other side and watching the ensuing argument.

"C'mon Jamie, your dupes don't even need to eat!" Bobby seemed on the verge of some serious whining. "Isn't it enough you ate the last of the cereal?"

"You should be thanking him for that Mr. Drake." Emma Frost, the newest addition to the teaching staff, walked in through the door that led to the back of the institute. She was dressed in pants tight enough and a shirt low enough to make all of the males in the room blush, along with Jubilee and Amara. "You certainly don't need any of the sugar laden crap. Try some fruit."

"Uh." Bobby blinked, clearly trying to gather the brain cells he'd lost upon the teacher's entrance. "Yes Ms. Frost."

She smirked lightly while walking towards the coffee machine. "Good. Have any of you seen Northstar?"

"I think he said he was, like, going to visit his sister but he'll be back this afternoon."

"Thank you Ms. Pryde." Cup of coffee now in hand she smiled and left the kitchen. There was a moment of silence and then as if nothing had happened the shouting began again. Kurt smiled faintly; this was the typical early morning crap and he had to admit it was strangely…comforting.

It was when they weren't fighting and shouting that you had a reason to be concerned. He walked around the table to the cupboard and pulled down the box of Pop-tarts. They were truly the food of the gods in convenient toastable form.

"Well, if you aren't going to accept a ride from Remy, Ah guess you'll be walking alone." Rouge said finally. Kitty looked up, head tilting to the side.

"You aren't going to ride with us Kurt?"

Kurt opened his mouth to respond but Rouge cut him off. "No, he isn't. Kurt needs a little exercise so it's just us and Remy today."

"Oh. Cool." Kitty said as she stood up and walked over to the sink. "Do you think we can go now? I have to talk to my programming teacher before school starts."

"Sure. See ya later fuzzy."

Kurt waved at them absently over his shoulder. Toaster pastry now, figuring out how to get to school later. If worse came to worse he'd just teleport into the basement or something. It wasn't early enough to be making any really definite plans.

He ate while attempting to finish up his Algebra homework (He still didn't understand the point behind graphing equations, for the record) and by the time he'd finished the work the New Mutants had already left the kitchen. He closed his book, shoving it into his bag, and pulled his coat on.

Now, the problem of getting to school. He needed to learn to drive, seriously. He reached up, raking his fingers through his hair, and started out of the kitchen. Maybe he could get a ride with Hank or something.

"Hey elf!" A second before he heard that a breeze went rushing past and he could only assume it was Peitro. A moment later Todd went hopping past and into the kitchen, Wanda and Lance following at a much more subdued pace. Lance stopped in front of him and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Shouldn't you be gone already?"

"Scott isn't offering rides today."

"Oh. Well. Wait a few minutes and you can ride with us."

"Uh. Okay."

Lance nodded then continued his trek into the kitchen, leaving Kurt feeling just slightly bewildered. Lance had just offered him a ride and hadn't even been sarcastic about it.

Very…unexpected.

0000000000000000000000

"What do you mean I have to walk?" Peitro looked scandalized at the very implication. Lance just blinked at him, less than impressed at the hissy-fit the white-haired boy was prepared to throw. He was used to the other teen's bratty antics and knew not to indulge them if he wanted to maintain his dignity.

Besides if worse came to worse he could just call Wanda to keep her twin in line. Hell, she could keep armies in line with a dirty look. She was impressive like that.

"I mean you have to walk. It'll be faster for you anyway."

"But why?" The speedster drew out the word enough to make Lance twitch with the urge to smack him. "Lance I don't-"

"I said I'd give Kurt a ride. Captain Stick-up-the-Ass isn't around today."

"Why can't he just teleport?"

"Because someone could see him, idiot." Wanda snapped while slamming a carton of milk in front of her twin. Peitro yelped and drew back. "Walking won't kill you. I do it everyday. We can…talk."

Her lips quirked into a smile that sent chills up Lance's spine. He actually kind of felt bad about inflicting that on Peitro.

Kind of.

"You have more time to eat." Freddy said, looking mournfully at the plate of toast in the middle of the table. He'd finished off the better part of a loaf already but that didn't mean he couldn't eat some more. In his case there was always room for more.

"And you don't have to risk dying due to Lance's crazy driving." Todd added, bouncing from his chair towards the door.

"My driving is not that bad." Lance muttered. "Move it or walk Freddy."

"Yeah yeah." The other boy muttered while pushing off of the bench that had been provided just for him. Lance smiled wryly then, with a wave at Wanda, walked out of the door and started around to the front of the building. Kurt was waiting by the jeep, eyes trained on some point in the sky.

The X-geeks were all so weird. Still Kurt had proven to be almost bearable the day before and so he'd decided to offer the kid a ride. There really wasn't much point in all of this animosity anyway. They were going to have to work together eventually and, if nothing else, mutants had to stick together. This wasn't about friendship, it was about necessity.

Summers was enough of an enemy, why make more on purpose.

Lance had to admit he rationalized very well.

"Thanks for this."

"No big." Lance muttered. "Just don't…let it get around."

"What, that you're a decent guy?" Kurt smiled faintly. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Glad to hear."

0000000000000000000000

MeLaiya: Yeah, I think I can manage to update within the month…I have some of this prewritten actually.

Mechante: Dammy does had a tail, though it isn't seen often. Control over his forms means he chooses to be 'human' most of the time. I believe Kurt is blue because A) Mystique is his mother and genetics are funny like that and B) it helps him blend into the shadows. Other than that yeah…mutation is a funny thing.

Askari: Glad you like it.

So. Review and…whatnot.


End file.
